Number of units reported as dispensed. This is only as reliable as the submitter of the claim. Note that one of the 16 bytes is for the decimal point.

LOWEST

10

79-88

The price Medi-Cal was willing to pay for that product, on the date the report was produced. It is the lowest of AWP - 17%, or the Federal Upper Limit price, or the State Maximum Allowable Ingredient Cost (MAIC) price.

ING_COST

12

89-100

The estimated ingredient cost. It is calculated by multiplying the quantity reported on a single claim by the "lowest" price in effect on the claim's date of service. The ingredient costs for each claim are summed to give the total ingredient cost for each NDC. Since quantities reported by pharmacies are not always accurate, the estimated ingredient cost often is far from accurate, especially for liquids. It tends to be more accurate for tablets and capsules.

PD_ON_TAR

8

101-108

The number of claims paid where a Treatment Authorization Request (TAR) number is present on the claim.

AMT_PAID

14

109-122

The total amount paid.

AVG_PAID

8

123-130

The average amount paid per prescription.

DAYSUPPLY

14

131-144

The total days supply, taken from the estimated days supply reported on each claim. This number is only as reliable as the submitter of the claim, and tends to be more accurate for tablets and capsules taken on a regular basis.

NO_RXS

10

145-154

The total number of claim lines paid.

Total bytes per record

154

*IMPORTANT NOTICE: Effective with the June 2002 files, we have changed the file layout. Pre- June 2002 files showed the Quantity field as 12 bytes, with no decimal. June 2002 and later files will show the Quantity field as 16 bytes, with an explicit decimal point and three trailing digits. This is to accommodate the October 1, 2002 conversion to the NCPDP 5.1 pharmacy claim telecommunication standard, which uses metric decimal quantities. We do not plan to convert the format of our pre-June 2002 files.